Sister of crash victim in damages victory

The sister of a woman who was tragically killed in a road collision has received more than £100,000 in an out of court settlement.

The victim was fatally injured when the car she was travelling in as a rear passenger was hit by another vehicle in the spring of 2008.

"This tragic case was unusual in that we pursued a claim for dependency on behalf of the victim's sister," said Martin James, a specialist in fatal road collisions with Fentons Solicitors LLP. "Ordinarily a claim like this relates to the loss of a spouse or in some cases a child, where the victim would provide for the surviving relative. But my client and her sister had lived together for their whole lives, and so we set about proving that her already tragic loss would also have enormous financial impact on her."

Martin said the defendant's insurers disputed the claim for many months, prolonging the ordeal for his client. "There were significant arguments over the nature of the case, the health of the two sisters and the overall legal basis of the claim," said Martin, a partner with the firm. "Because the lower earner of the two sisters had died, the traditional calculation for dependency wasn't appropriate and so we tried to use a schedule of joint expenditure. This helped us to demonstrate the enormity of the burden my client faced following the loss of her sister."

Following lengthy negotiations, Martin secured a settlement of £110,000 on behalf of his client.